Valentine's day: for the lover & the wallflower.

Here's what we're all thinking. & by 'we' I mean the birds that aren't in love.

Every day you should celebrate each other's love.


How cheesy of me. I cannot believe this is happening. Let me continue.


Because love is a hard find. & even though you have been through so many years together that the footsy has grown limp, the heart a little more numb, the mind a little more used to things, don't forget what you have. You've got it good. Not easy, because good isn't defined as easy & nor is love. It's hard. It's fights that wound you deeper than flesh. Words that sink like an anchor, arising again when opposition is faced. It's forgiveness every day. But it's an extraordinary thing, love is.


Its breath slips at the moments your eyes meet. Lingering butterflies in every thought. It's the magic of the fall, so hard & so fast. It's the sweet sip the rest of us have had, a mere taste of the goodness you've been blessed with to stay.


So happy valentine's day to you love birds. Sincerely. I pray God blesses you & grows you & I pray that you are together because you're simply following a loving God who's drawn your paths parallel til death. I pray it's all in His plans. I pray you whisper with your girlfriends that he's the one, & I pray they wrap their arms around you & jump up & down doing that awkward thing we do. I pray he treats you in a way that brings you overwhelming joy, pulling the ugly cry with the 'God is so good'. I pray it's truly meant to be.


& you know something? I feel like a lot of people would stand behind me in saying that apart from the 'babe'...'babe'...'babe'... conversations & the PDA in Starbucks & watching you sign his last name with your first all. over. your. paper..., we think you guys are adorable together. 'You are so cute together', says every comment on social media. & we mean it. You are goofy little things, let me tell you. But we blame it on love.


We're not anti-love.

We are anti heartbreaks & aches. Anti the careless creatures who led us to believe we were meat & that if we give, things could work. We are anti the hurtful beings who led us on, anti the man who made us an option. We are anti people who we have loved with all our heart who never extended arms to catch us- only words.


We believe in love, & that is why this day hurts.


Because love matters.

 

So just say something.

Speak your mind. This is your time to pour your oozing heart out. This is the day for it if there ever was one. This is the day that friends might get down in your mini pity party. They might be a little more flexible with your sad story limit.

This is the perfect occasion to write down your awful love stories. Share your wounded heart. Cry because you're with him & you don't know if it's just a convenient habit or the real thing. Reminisce on your first date. Tell us how you met. Tell us what you love about him. Tell your little boys how to be gentleman. How to hold the door for a lady. How to tell her she is beautiful & to take captive her every secret. Teach him to listen. Teach her to love, & to love with all her being. Tell her to tuck her heart away into God's hands, tell her how weighty it is to carry herself. Tell her how she'll see the outsides & God will choose by their insides. Plan sleepovers for her & her girlfriends in second grade, seventh grade, & high school. Show her the power in a sister bond. Teach her how to be a good friend even when she meets the one her freshman year.

Speak love. Show love. Carry your love stories like the intimate fireworks they are. They have formed you thus far. Sure, some might not tickle your soul like butterflies, some could feel a little more similar to a boa constructor squeezing the life out of you. But you are here today & you have persevered & you are whole. & if we're honest, usually its the constricting stories that have grown us the most.


So let it all out, love. By all means, I don't feel I need to remind you how loved you truly are by love Himself. You know that, so no need to shove the teddy bears down your throat. Just live today, please. Grow, by all means. You were made for such a time as this & this day lies in the thin dash separating your first breath from your last. Today is yours, too. Make it something.

Maybe there's something you're afraid to say,

or someone you're afraid to love, or somewhere

you're afraid to go. It's gonna hurt. It's gonna hurt

because it matters.

JOHN GREEN